Fire district prepared to put tax measure on ballot

More staff needed to keep up with rising demand for services
by BARRY W. DUGAN, Managing Editor
Windsor Fire Protection District leaders will hold a public
hearing next week before deciding whether to put a special tax
before voters in a mail-ballot election in September.
The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, June 19 at 7 p.m. at the
district’s Station 1, 8200 Old Redwood Highway, Windsor.
District officials maintain the additional tax is needed to keep
up with the demand for service calls and the staff to maintain
adequate response times.
Currently, the fire district responds to 1,700 calls per year, a
threefold increase since 1990, according to statistics used in a
tax initiative overview prepared by the district. The fire district
is independent of the Town of Windsor and receives no funding from
the town government. The district covers a 30-square mile
territory, which encompasses the five square miles within the
town.
Pat McDowell, president of the Windsor Fire Protection District
Board of Directors, said the board has been unanimous in its
support of the tax measure.
“It really gets down to response times and staffing levels,”
said McDowell. “Our local constituency doesn’t understand as well
as we would like them to that we are not doing as well as they
think we are. The level of service is increasing on a daily basis,
and we basically have one truck with two people on it ready to go
at any time.”
Sometimes there are volunteers to assist, but sometimes there
are not. Often, the district faces “call stacking” where there are
multiple fire calls at the same time. Last year firefighters faced
that situation 127 times.
This Monday, June 9, the district responded to four calls for
assistance in a 15-minute period, according to WFPD Chief Ron
Collier. “The engine company was going from one side of town to the
other and all the calls were stacked,” he said. “Those are the
things we’re up against … and that is occurring more
frequently.”
With a tax increase, the district could afford to staff a second
station on the west side of town. There is currently a station at
the corner of Windsor Road and Windsor River Road, and plans are in
the works for a new station on Windsor Road across from the high
school.
“It would allow the district to staff a second station at the
same level we staff the main station,” said McDowell. The main
station has two paid firefighters on duty 24 hours per day.
The special tax would increase the existing parcel assessment
from $67.50 per year for the average single family home to $168 per
year. The district now operates on a $1.3 million budget, two
thirds of which comes from the existing special fire district tax
and one third from property taxes.
McDowell acknowledged that the biggest hurdle the district faces
is in “overcoming the word tax. How do we educate the voters to
really understand that we need to pass this tax election to protect
their lives and property at the level they want to be
protected?”
Collier said the biggest concern is reducing response times,
which now exceed the national standard of four minutes for 90
percent of all calls. The WFPD response times over the past two
years have exceeded four minutes for more than 50 percent of all
calls.
“The primary reason for the deteriorating level of service is
that we are understaffed,” said Collier in a letter that will be
sent to Windsor residents, explaining the need for the increased
tax.
If the WFPD board adopts the resolution putting the measure on
the September ballot as expected, it will require the approval of
two-thirds of the district’s voters.
Further information about the proposed ordinance and special tax
is available during regular business hours at the district’s
offices located at 8200 Old Redwood Hwy., Windsor.